“The events of September 11, 2001, transformed America and the world. It changed many of our lives forever. The peace of that crisp September morning, with barely a cloud in the sky, was shattered in an instant as planes slammed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and the fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thousands of our fellow citizens were brutally murdered that day. Families were shattered. The nation was shaken.

The true face of radical Islam, previously hidden behind a veil of ignorance, was revealed for the whole world to see. As former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, if the Islamofascists could have killed 300,000, instead of 3,000, they would have. And they would have rejoiced in it.

The day showed us the worst of our enemy, but it brought out the best in us. As the Twin Towers burned, hundreds of police and firefighters rushed in. As smoke billowed from the nerve center of American power, military and civilian employees did whatever they could to help their co-workers. As Flight 93 soared toward Washington to hit the White House or the Capitol Building, Todd Beamer and other heroic passengers rose up and launched the first counterattack in the war against Al Qaeda. Tens of thousands of young men and women courageously volunteered to defend their country.

In the years following 9/11, America and its allies waged two wars against despotic regimes, liberated 60 million Muslims and eventually brought Osama bin Laden to justice. Yet as America approaches the tenth anniversary of that atrocity, the unity we felt then has diminished. We are a nation divided.

On our college campuses, there is a lot of introspective navel gazing about 9/11 and America’s place in the world. The Obama White House, ever fearful of offending global opinion, once again bowed to political correctness and issued two sets of talking points about the anniversary – one for American audiences and one for foreign audiences. Obama even refuses to acknowledge who the enemy is.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned clergy from participating in this weekend’s ceremonies at Ground Zero. Officials at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., have excluded Evangelical Christians from 9/11 ceremonies. It’s no wonder 77% of Americans think their country is on the wrong track today.

It’s not just our budget deficit that concerns Americans. Many are worried about our growing virtue deficit too. For decades the Islamists have mocked us for our immorality and decadence. Today, the left insists there are no reliable standards of right and wrong. When it comes to traditional marriage, thousands of years of history is cast aside. Common sense is denounced as bigotry.

And when the foundation that has nurtured our society for so long is finally torn down, what will replace it? While radical Islam wages its jihad against Western Civilization from without, the left wages a relentless political war against Western Civilization from within, offering nothing in its place but materialism and licentiousness. Those are not values that will inspire a generation to sacrifice, that will rally a nation to victory against Islamism.

This war has a long way to go – perhaps a generation or more will be needed to win this war. The day ten years ago that we commemorate this Sunday may not be the worst day we will experience before it is over. Surely more horror and more testing lie ahead before we will know whether we, the heirs of a great civilization, have inherited the courage and resolve to defend it.

In the meantime, there are things you can do. Tell your husband, wife, children, parents that you love them. Forgive someone. Remind yourself why you are blessed to be in America. Rediscover the God of Abraham, who said, “…I have set before you life and death… Now choose life so that you and your children may live…”

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